Yes, Alford is a good recruiter and ambassador for the University. That said, I haven't been very impressed with his coaching the past 5 years. Seems like guys take way too long to develop at a position that generally is one of the easiest for young players to make an impact. I'm sure some of it is Kelly's scheme and odd play calling but too often we've seen Notre Dame RBs with some bad habits. Bryant has been in the system for two seasons now and yet still doesn't show good vision. Atkinson was another guy that when firing was great but too often displayed a tentativeness that negated his primary advantage.

These are things that I would think would be drilled out of RBs in practice. And while I'm sure Kelly doesn't devote enough time to the running game in practice, these are things that should be taught and developed in unit drills.

Maybe it's because I watch ND every week and mostly see other team's highlights, but it seems that every year big programs and little programs have an underclassmen RB who runs roughshod over opponents.